SHARE prices sank at their lowest in almost two years on Tuesday after a weak US equities market dragged the entire regional market.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 82.37 points to close at 6,843.83 points, as foreign investors dumped local shares.
The last time the main index visited this level was on December 29, 2016.
“Sentiment from US markets dropping last night, with the Dow Jones even falling by 600 points, dragged regional markets,” Gabriel Jose F. Perez, analyst at Papa Securities Inc., said.
“We look forward to how US markets perform tonight. MSCI’s index review announcement tomorrow morning [November 14] should also be something to watch out for,” he said, adding that speculation on the index review may have driven the performance of some of the blue-chip stocks.
MSCI is a basket of stocks—including local shares—that are handpicked based on profitability and tradability. The main index fell by as much as 105 points at its intraday low, while foreign investors were net sellers at P1.26 billion.
Many of the actively traded shares on Tuesday ended in the red but ISM Communications Corp. managed to gain P0.60 to close at P8.10.
JG Summit Holdings Inc. was the day’s biggest loser and fell P3.10 to P41.90.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. lost P0.22 to P4.33, Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. declined P0.29 to P7.82, Aboitiz Power Corp. gave up P0.80 to P31.20 and SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.75 to P31.80.
All of the subindices also ended in the red, led by the broader All Shares index that fell 41.84 points to 4,211.13. The Financials index declined 16.63 to 1,544.88, while the Industrial index gave up 66.25 to 10,397.67. The Holding Firms index plunged
111.34 to 6,737.03.